e0y2e3 wrote:Losing every ligament on the outside of my ankle and needing microfracture on the same ankle did my career in.

I am no stranger to that ankle injury, it ended my days in the Marine Corps and pushed me into the Navy. I had no posterior talo-fibular ligament (completely severed), my anterior talo-fibular was severely torn/comprimised, and my CF ligament was stretched and may have recovered. The injury was gruesome and I had the full Watson-Jones ankle ligament reconstruction/replacement. Horrible injury and worse recovery.

The ankle has no place to hide and the injuries have gotten worse over the years. Bigger, faster, stonger= more hoffific injuries. Technology & Techniques have not kept pace, but procedures have been modified to reduce the post-op morbidity without sacrificing function & stability.

But the peroneal tendons can only go so far....;)

Regardless, if you need ankle reconstruction you won't be winning any obstacle course races ..and forget about uneven surfaces. Done right , it would be real hard to ever sprain the reconstructed ankle again. The quicks are gone.

They asked me to come back and play center. That is the exact moment I quit. A year of rehab to pretend to play center? Nope.

Missed this but find it interesting because 10 weeks ago I messed my ankle up and I still can't get it right. Had MRI and tons of scar tissue w/all three of the left outside ligaments lacking elasticity. Wondering what that means long term. Wondering if stability will eventually return if there's any elasticity left or if specialist I see a week from Thursday will want to tighten that stuff up. But 10 weeks is way too long for it to feel like the day after I hurt it, no? There's a ton of hyper sensitivity too. Some days it feels like it may be getting better. Next day like it just happened again. Days when I can't put a sock on it or a sheet over it. If I step on a bath mat or throw rug with half foot on and half off it buckles like a belt even now.

You're fucked. My shoulders and my ankle losing ligaments is intertwined, I have bad elasticity and refused to ever miss a practice for my entire career. The ankle still hurts all the time post surgery and still rolls (I went to the Ravens surgeon) when the ground is off. It is almost so stiff it ruins itself. My shoulders are not even reparable (this goes back to playing pulling guard at YSU on the Scout team) since they pop out backwards. You love your squash, IIRC, and if you lost the ligaments in your ankle that should be over.

That said, I had no explosion and only went to the Dr. middle of my junior year after playing on it for months because the loose cartilage was locking my ankle up in my sleep. I had no idea how bad of shape I was in and when I went to the Dr. he literally showed me that he could have broken my ankle by flicking his wrist.

And trust me, you want to avoid the tightening surgery as hard as you can. As mentioned earlier, the rehab to even walk is no joke (if they work in the microfracture especially).

And I lost track of how many sprained ankles I played on, I can just tell you it was a stupid number. They never tighten back up, best case you can build the stabilization muscles around them to be so bad ass you don't notice (this is what I did with my shoulders).

I played through camp and four games with a taped ankle after I knew mine went. It worked (and made me kind of suck since I had no explosion), but you can make due if you want to be a hard ass.

As I said with the shoulder thing for me, if you are going to do that you have to really, really build up the stabilizing muscles around the ankle (the only way I know to do this for the ankle involves giant rubber bands).

The situation with the cartilage is going to be huge for you, if it all is gone you have the ligament surgery and the microfracture combo, which is what makes it all ridiculous..... soft cast.... hard cast.... walking boot.... shit.

Peek, Unfortunately alot of what Ei-Ei-yo is saying is true even without knowing more of your specifics.

10 weeks out and still this bad? Doesn't matter what MRI shows. You have lost ligamentous integrity, stability and proprioception. Now i don't know your age, size, or athletic prowess....but the older, larger, more active and greater level of play you want to be at, the more likely you will need reconstructive surgery.

I am betting you are well past the orthotic/brace stage.

PM me and fill me in on the details....I'm real good at interpreting MRI's ;).

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

The kid moves so well that it is impossible to believe that he is 6'4 225. I like him way better than the Breneman kid that committed to PSU. The kid is a serious athlete. His HS team lines him up split out, could you imagine being a CB and trying to cover that beast? The word is that he is too fast for LBs, to big for safeties and too physical for CBs.

All I can say is WOW. I had no idea we had any shot with that kid so I wasn't really looking.

As I tell the UM grads on twitter I ball with, OSU is about to land the top TE in Cali and Florida.

Think about that for a minute.

And that is on top of Urban inheriting the best set of TE's OSU has had in 15 years or more, against all logic.

pod2dawg wrote:^^^^^ Additionally, in all irony tOSU never guarded the TE very well either ( see losses to LSU & FL). Hopefully, that changes too.

and wisconsin in 2010.

I keep forgetting about Blake Thomas. I really like that kid too... That kid played and dominated some elite competition as a blocker. He made Strobel his bitch on 2 seperate occasions. I have no idea where he ends up on this team as I am not sure that he meets the normal Meyer TE/HB prototype. I am not sure he could grow to be a tackle like Fragel did although I would love to see it.

Talk about facing Elite competition, THomas went head to head against:

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

I think there will be a little more room than many are anticipating. I think we will see additional attrition before the class of 2013 signs. History shows that a couple of conduct/academic losses would be expected in addition to a couple of guys who will leave early. Off the top of my head I think Hankins and Roby are prime candidates to leave a year of eligibility on the table. I think Rod Smith may end up being a transfer candidate (particularly if he is passed by Dunn, which appears to have already happened). I would not be surprised to see a linebacker or two may feel the crowding in the front seven as well.

As a 2012 LB looking at the depth chart I would see.... Shazier and Grant one year ahead of me, not much separation. I would also see all the other guys in my class Perry, Perkins, Williams and Marcus not to mention Roberts (the "runt" of the litter) who is already turning heads!

I still say that Carter and Brown will probably fall off the team at some point as well.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

I think big hank is likely given his likely draft spot, but I don't expect any other early departures. No one else is a potential top ten pick and I think most will want shot at the NC if they get a big taste of success this season and see something special on the horizon.

But I agree there is probably a few more kids that will leave after the depth chart starts to set at certain positions

JCoz wrote:I think big hank is likely given his likely draft spot, but I don't expect any other early departures. No one else is a potential top ten pick and I think most will want shot at the NC if they get a big taste of success this season and see something special on the horizon.

But I agree there is probably a few more kids that will leave after the depth chart starts to set at certain positions

I think Roby will be gone too. Kid is great at a position where great players go early. I bet Roby ends up 3rd round or better by the end of the year.

I think the class ends up in the low 20's. Not so sure that the 3 lost schollies are really going to hurt that bad. tOSU has already served one year (from a recruiting standpoint) and the numbers for 2013 are OK (20ish). As long as they are not wasting schollies on Adam Griffin then we are fine. I am not really worried about numbers.

One great thing about not deferring to seniors is that it encourages upperclassmen who have been passed on the depth chart by underclassmen to move on. I generally think that you know who tOSU's best players by the end of their Fr/rFr year's. If a guy hasn't flashed by then, it is unlikely he is going to blow you away. I am trying to think to tOSU's last really good player that did not make an impact as a Freshman, kind of drawing a blank.... Troy Smith?

I am also not a fan of redshirting (generally). Usually just takes guys that were averagish and keeps them on scholarship longer.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

furls wrote:I am trying to think to tOSU's last really good player that did not make an impact as a Freshman, kind of drawing a blank.... Troy Smith?

Off the top of my head I can't think of too many either...although I guess you could say Hartline, Herron and Heyward could fit the description, as long as they qualify as "really good players". More recently, there's Roby. I think we could be seeing a couple more here soon, if Grant and Grant both develop like we think/hope they will.

I love Roby, although I'm not sure if I'm ready to put him in the "great" category yet...Bucks haven't lost a lot of underclassmen to the NFL recently (not counting TP) although there's no way to know if and how the team culture may change under Meyer. Hopefully kids won't want to leave early. That said, I don't know how you hang onto a Shazier after 2013. NFL teams are begging for OLB's like him.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

With Shazier and Grant's speed they could easily lose both starting LBs that year.

And so far I haven't seen that Dunn has passed Smith. More often then not I see that Smith is getting the back-up reps (Hall is techincally the #1 but he is all over the field, Hyde is more the true #1 right now, but it has been well established a bunch of RBs will play).

In Barrett, Meyer pulls a kid from Texas who had offers from LSU and Baylor...(also Arizona, Nebraska, and others) Nice work. By all indications, he's a great kid too...I believe there's a video interview with him upthread...

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

All good news, but I just can't get excited until next Feb. I wonder what's the percentage of verbals who eventually de-commit? Probably pretty low with Meyer, I would guess. Still, after Gunner Kiel changed his mind 3 times and ended up at ND, no way LSU stops recruiting Barrett.

I don't need to be patient, they're going to be shit forever. - CDT, discussing my favorite NFL team

furls wrote:I am trying to think to tOSU's last really good player that did not make an impact as a Freshman, kind of drawing a blank.... Troy Smith?

Off the top of my head I can't think of too many either...although I guess you could say Hartline, Herron and Heyward could fit the description, as long as they qualify as "really good players". More recently, there's Roby. I think we could be seeing a couple more here soon, if Grant and Grant both develop like we think/hope they will.

I love Roby, although I'm not sure if I'm ready to put him in the "great" category yet...Bucks haven't lost a lot of underclassmen to the NFL recently (not counting TP) although there's no way to know if and how the team culture may change under Meyer. Hopefully kids won't want to leave early. That said, I don't know how you hang onto a Shazier after 2013. NFL teams are begging for OLB's like him.

Heyward started several games as a freshman. I will give you Hartline and Herron. Herron really developed over his time at tOSU. My point was that you usually get a feel very early on for who is going to make an impact, usually by the end of a guys freshman year. Generally guys that take a RS don't. Vern Gholston is another one that took a RS, he left as a 4th year JR.

I say that in general, if you cut everyone off the team that doesn't flash in their freshman year, you would not miss many stars. Sure there are a couple that you would like to have back, but in general, you would be OK.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

BTW: the Bucks currently only have four more spots in this class available. Hitting 20 is going to be real tough Furls. IMO, 18 would be a great haul.

Another name to look out for as the replacement for Foster is James Quick, who will be at the spring game this weekend. #3 WR per Scout and a bonafide 5 star (Saban was considered the leader until Louisville started offering his entire team).

e0y2e3 wrote:by all acounts now Joey Bosa is a Buckeye, giving them a top two DE nationally two years running (and pulling this one out of Florida).

I still get butterflies when I think about tOSU's 2012 DEs. The Spring reports about Pittman were very VERY good and he was the "Lesser" of the three DEs they brought in. Spence dominated the UA game, Washington was every bit as impressive in the AA game. According to Rivals tOSU landed the 1 and 2 WDEs last year.... scout disagrees, scout says 2 of the top 3!

That line will be ridiculous. I hope Pittman can move to 3 Tech. I have this dream of Spence at WDE, Washington at SSDE and Pittman at 3 Tech in 2013. Wonder if Bosa stays outside, he is already a BIG kid at 260 as a JR. Odds are he is 275 before ever setting foot on campus, 2 weeks in Mariotti's program and he is 290+.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

e0y2e3 wrote:BTW: the Bucks currently only have four more spots in this class available. Hitting 20 is going to be real tough Furls. IMO, 18 would be a great haul.

Another name to look out for as the replacement for Foster is James Quick, who will be at the spring game this weekend. #3 WR per Scout and a bonafide 5 star (Saban was considered the leader until Louisville started offering his entire team).

I still think we'll see 20+. Someone is going to punch a girl or smoke to many spliffs to get a passing grade in Western Civ. Someone will get a DUI. There will a couple of early entrants to Sunday football. Chris Carter may eat a teammate opening up 2 scholarships (his own and that of the teammate he ate). Etc.

I like Quick, out of KY Trinity, that kid is a player. There was a lot of talk around Devon Allen about a month ago, but not much since. I like the speed, but I am always leery about track guys.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

The best thing about getting Barrett is that he was legitimately Meyer's first choice. Recruiting rankings are neat and so are stars because they quantify the unquantifiable, but you can tell a lot about a kid by where he lies on the board. Barrett may not be #1 on all services (he is on the one I favor, 247), but he was #1 to Urban Meyer. Meyer sees him as the perfect match for his offense (like Miller). I love Barrett's film, he just ruined Cardale Jones' life.

I really liked Jones and I thought he would be a solid replacement for Miller although he is a very different player. Now that the Buckeyes have landed Miller's clone (who probably has a higher ceiling than Jones) I think Jones is the odd man out. Too bad for the kid. He held out for the OSU offer then went to prep school to earn it. I was rooting for him.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

e0y2e3 wrote:BTW: the Bucks currently only have four more spots in this class available. Hitting 20 is going to be real tough Furls. IMO, 18 would be a great haul.

Another name to look out for as the replacement for Foster is James Quick, who will be at the spring game this weekend. #3 WR per Scout and a bonafide 5 star (Saban was considered the leader until Louisville started offering his entire team).

I still think we'll see 20+. Someone is going to punch a girl or smoke to many spliffs to get a passing grade in Western Civ. Someone will get a DUI. There will a couple of early entrants to Sunday football. Chris Carter may eat a teammate opening up 2 scholarships (his own and that of the teammate he ate). Etc.

I like Quick, out of KY Trinity, that kid is a player. There was a lot of talk around Devon Allen about a month ago, but not much since. I like the speed, but I am always leery about track guys.

I thought I read he is coming to the spring game with his folks.

I dont see 20+ 3 ships down, but its really doesnt matter, not a point worth arguing over.

I liked Barrett better than any QB we were looking at after I reead a couple interviews and what people had to say about him. He's everything that you hear Meyer say he's looking for in a player.This was one where you could really read some things from how he answers interview questions.

I haven't seen anything on Allen, but yeah Quick is going to be there with family.

I do expect Analzone to be a done deal though, along with Bosa. Worley the star from Glenville is possible, Derrick Green may show up, Love just needs to shake his Nebraska visit and could do so quickly.... etc...

I don't think the staff is pushing as hard for Derrick Green anymore. He says Clemson leads, but I don't think anyone is sweating it. The way this class is shaping up (and with the solid early returns on Dunn) I am not sure that another 215lb back is what tOSU needs. Ball (another 215lb back) still hasn't even hit the campus yet. Green is a good player and I certainly wouldn't turn him away, but I wouldn't cry in my beer if he went elsewhere (as long as scUM is not elsewhere).

I would rather see the Bucks land an extra WR or Safety with that schollie truth be told.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

furls wrote:The best thing about getting Barrett is that he was legitimately Meyer's first choice. Recruiting rankings are neat and so are stars because they quantify the unquantifiable, but you can tell a lot about a kid by where he lies on the board. Barrett may not be #1 on all services (he is on the one I favor, 247), but he was #1 to Urban Meyer. Meyer sees him as the perfect match for his offense (like Miller). I love Barrett's film, he just ruined Cardale Jones' life.

I really liked Jones and I thought he would be a solid replacement for Miller although he is a very different player. Now that the Buckeyes have landed Miller's clone (who probably has a higher ceiling than Jones) I think Jones is the odd man out. Too bad for the kid. He held out for the OSU offer then went to prep school to earn it. I was rooting for him.

Again, I am by no means trying to be a killjoy but r u sure that this kid (Barrett) is 100% committed? I will guarantee LSU hounds this kid for another 9 months. The verbal is a great start, but it's not really worth the paper upon which it's not printed or signed.

I know I am the world's greatest (or worst) cynic, and I am not trying to take a crap on anyone's parade, but I just can't get wood over 17 year olds who verbally commit before they have taken a single snap of their senior year in HS.

I don't need to be patient, they're going to be shit forever. - CDT, discussing my favorite NFL team

This kid has wanted to commit to OSU every day since he took his visit (and had already been to LSU). Recruiting is becoming an earlier and earlier event every single year and I have full faith in a staff that just dropped the #1 WR and a top three recruit because he showed disingenuous attitude on a visit to be focusing on only bringing in kids fully on board. Otherwise, again, they wouldn't run off top three recruits for acting bored during their visits.

Urban Meyer is fully focused on getting good kids that want to be Buckeyes more than anything.

I don't understand.... even Tressel used to lock up most of his class before senior seasons (scUM is doing it too) and never had problems with flipping. This isn't like the kids tore between UF and FSU that flip back and forth every year and have been doing so for ages.

Barrett has also said his only visit will be to OSU this summer to workout with Meyer and Herman and that he is enrolling early next year. Herman also will be at his high school to work him out in a week or so.

Until Kalis this year (under unique if not bizarre circumstances), when was the last time a committed, "verbaled" OSU recruit changed his mind and went elsewhere before enrolling? I don't know the answer to that, which suggests either that it's very rare, or I'm having a senior moment...not sure...

Point is, last year was a one-off. Commits fall off for other reasons..failure to qualify academically...they get shot in the streets of Youngstown...shit like that...but not because they decide against attending OSU after they've verbaled.

A few recent kids (Tajh Boyd comes to mind) who looked like locks to OSU committed elsewhere in what appeared to be "plain brown envelope" situations, but that was before any verbals were given. Not to say it can't or won't happen...just that it has not been an issue OSU has had to deal with until last year's unique situation.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

Here's the Joey Bosa highlight video...Remember, he's playing at St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale...one of the top programs in the country...against top flight competition.

Remember too, that he is 16 years old in this video...doesn't turn 17 till this July. Not sure if the height and weight posted are accurate, but he's listed at 6'6", 260, and as you can see, although he's listed as a DE, he plays mostly inside in these highlights.

danwismar wrote:Until Kalis this year (under unique if not bizarre circumstances), when was the last time a committed, "verbaled" OSU recruit changed his mind and went elsewhere before enrolling? I don't know the answer to that, which suggests either that it's very rare, or I'm having a senior moment...not sure...

Point is, last year was a one-off. Commits fall off for other reasons..failure to qualify academically...they get shot in the streets of Youngstown...shit like that...but not because they decide against attending OSU after they've verbaled.

A few recent kids (Tajh Boyd comes to mind) who looked like locks to OSU committed elsewhere in what appeared to be "plain brown envelope" situations, but that was before any verbals were given. Not to say it can't or won't happen...just that it has not been an issue OSU has had to deal with until last year's unique situation.

Last one that I can recall was the Legacy DB who got Zooker'ed at the last min because he told him he could play on offense.

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.

OK, so this is one of those rare moments when I eat Crow. Man it is tasty crow too....

So if you guys remember, I was pretty irritated with some of the better OH kids going elsewhere (Plan B kids vanishing, Ben Gedeon for example) and the staff's apparent lack of interest in some pretty good looking OH kids (Malik Zaire would be a good example).

I was very concerned because those are some nice football players, players I would be perfectly content seeein

Coming from a Wolverine, we're the football equivalent of a formerly abused wife of a meth addict who just remarried the safe nice guy. We're just glad we have someone who's aware that it's a rivalry and that tackling on defense is integral. Baby steps.